The Church of Santa Maria Assunta

Montescudaio hosts a church with two names

Montescudaio

In 1416, the church of Sant’Andrea in Castello inherited the title of a suppressed convent dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Until 1837, the Church of Montescudaio boasted two different names; it was called ‘the parish church of Sant’Andrea’ and the ‘monastery of Santa Maria Assunta’. An earthquake destroyed the high part of the town in 1846, including the church. Thus, new church was built from 1854 to 1857. The new structure is larger than the original and it boasts a Latin-cross plan which is completed by an apse. Its facade faces westward and it is preceded by a wide staircase. Inside, you’ll find a painted marble statue from the eighteenth century which depicts ‘San Francesco di Paola’. Viewers can also admire a seventeenth century painting of the ‘Annunciation’, attributed to the Venetian school.(Source: Pisa Tourist Information Office)

Montescudaio

Ancient Benedictine monastic seat and capital of the Volterra Diocese, castle of the Della Gherardesca counts, and founded at the end of the XII century in the place of the pre-existing Church of St. Mary, Montescudaio enjoys a panorama from which the Cecina Valley plains are visible, as are all of the islands of the Tuscan archipelago right up to the mountains of Corsica. ...